Kumar Sangakkara speaks ahead of Wednesday's T20

The UAE is set to begin hosting a very interesting series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan this week. Two T20s, five ODis and three Tests all to come in the next six weeks or so between Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

Their most recent series came against New Zealand at the end of November, but before that they hadn't played another proper series since August when they hosted South Africa in Colombo. They haven't played a Test since March, when they faced Bangladesh.

Against the Black Caps, Sri Lanka won one of the ODI matches and one T20 (two of the five one-days were washed out by rain). And in August, they won four of the five ODIs v South Africa and one of three T20 internationals.

So it's not like Sri Lanka aren't a formidable side. They are, with the likes of Lasith Malinga, Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews among their share of top global talents.

Which makes this series particularly interesting.

They just don't get the chance to play very often. So while Sri Lanka need to go back to August to find an opponent of South Africa's quality on their fixture list, Pakistan have been playing the Proteas themselves with regularity  here, in this country, and in South Africa  for the past couple months.

Then again, they beat South Africa in a T20 as recently as November 22. And the absence of Mahela Jayawardene (following the birth of his child) might mean more to Sri Lanka than Irfan's will to Pakistan.

So what we'll be treated to, is two of the world's most tantalizingly talented sides. Each with their own problems at the moment, but still also the world's No 1 (Sri Lanka) and 4 (Pakistan) ranked T20 sides by the ICC. Meaning that it will be, at the very least, a fascinating series to follow.